Hello,
My question isn't 100% related to the topic of this section but I haven't found a more appropriate section to ask it. I came across a few sentences with the following structure: Noun/adjective + to + gerund. Here are some examples:
1. California is on its way to developing robust laws governing the sale of cannabis and cannabis products.
2. The primary obstacle to obtaining CBD from mature cannabis stalks is that it is illegal under Federal law to grow cannabis.
3. I’ve put together a list of materials that I think are vital to understanding the law on hemp-derived CBD.
4. Asking questions is the first step to ensuring the products you are receiving are legal.
I scoured the internet to find some grammar explanation regarding this structure but haven't found something useful. Can you please clarify this grammatical structure and when it should be used?

In all of these cases, 'to' is followed by a noun phrase. For example, you can be 'on your way to failure', there can be an 'obstacle to success', an action can be 'vital to good health', etc. When we want a verb form to follow a preposition (like 'to'), we use the gerund form of the verb. This is why there are gerunds after all of these phrases.

Thank you very much Kirk!
Is it an efficient way to learn when "to", specifically, is functioning as a preposition and not as an infinitive marker? I know that there are lists of verbs that are followed by the preposition "to" (confess to, committed to, addicted to, etc.). Are there similar lists of nouns/adjectives (like in my examples) that are followed by the preposition "to" (and therefore taking the gerund)?
Many thanks,
Or

Yes, I would recommend trying to remember when 'to' is a preposition and when it is part of the infinitive, as of course the verb form that comes after will be different in each case -- a gerund in the first, and an infinitive in the second.

When my students ask me whether they should study lists such as these, I encourage them to try learning one and then to observe whether it seems to help them remember the adjectives and their complements (i.e. the prepositions that follow them). Some people learn them well this way, but others don't so much. I'd encourage you to conduct the same experiment.

There is a short list of adjectives and prepositions on our Adjectives & Prepositions page and I found another page that has a longer list in the Free Dictionary. I'm sure you can find others if you do an internet search.

Yes, that is grammatically correct. Whether it is the best way to express the idea is a different question, of course. Vanish suggests something disappearing suddenly and without warning, which does not seem likely with reading skills, which might be more likely to deteriorate or fade over time.

I'm afraid that wouldn't be natural or correct in standard American or British English; if I didn't know what you meant, I would probably understand that to mean something like 'I will go and have dinner with you'.

We don't use 'invite' with this meaning in English. One common way to communicate this idea is to use the verb or noun 'treat': 'I'd like to treat you to dinner' or 'Dinner is my treat'. It's also common to say 'Dinner's on me' (to mean you will pay for it) in an informal context.